Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: disaster, calamity, catastrophe, cataclysm, devastation, misfortune, misadventure, mishap, reverse, vicissitude, setback, trial, tribulation, affliction, blight, injury, adversity, sad event, serious accident, tragic drama, drama, play

Antonyms: fortune, joy, comedy, blessing, luck, advantage, godsend, boon, victory, pleasure, opportunity, humor, fun, benefit, joyfulness, gladness, joke, romance, chance, welfare, wit, rejoicing, rub of the green, success

Showing 1 to 25 of 31 results

1. Pilate and the Condemnation of Jesus

John 18:28-40, John 19:1-16

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 4–8, and all of it—the beating and slapping, the thorny crown, the purple robe, and especially the mocking shout Hail, king of the Jews!—is the product of Pilate’s sick and anti-Semitic sense of humor. He seems obsessed throughout with the grim joke that Jesus is the Jews’ king. The words with which he presents Jesus to the assembled Jewish leaders—Here is the man! (v. 5)—are intended to arouse not so much pity as a sense of the ridiculous. To the Gospel writer, however, they are profoundly ...

2. Impurity, Repentance, and Jealousy

Num 5:1-31

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... better divorce settlement in court, or a man exaggerating the facts to win a lawsuit. Either way, it is an offense against humankind and God that should lead to restitution on the human level and an appeal to God for forgiveness. Jealousy is not a joke. Humor: People joke about jealousy: “There was a wife so jealous that when her husband came home one night and she couldn’t find any hairs on his jacket, she yelled at him, ‘So now you’re cheating on me with a bald woman!’” But irrational jealousy ...

3. Jesus Sentenced to be Crucified

John 19:1-16, John 18:28-40

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

4. The Church in Antioch

Acts 11:19-30

Understanding Series

David J. Williams

... JTS 9 (1958), pp. 26ff.). But the name “Christian” may well be older than the institution of the Augustiani, and certainly so if we think that by this note Luke meant that the name originated at this time. However, the possibility remains that it was coined as a joke, and it may have been in that sense that Agrippa II used it in 26:28 (cf. 1 Pet. 4:16). The second matter is the provision made by the church in Antioch, as famine threatened, for the relief of the brothers living in Judea (v. 29). Luke ...

5. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... s love (5:1, 2). 5:4 The list of prohibitions goes on (in the Greek there is no new sentence) to include obscenity and foolish talk or coarse joking. Obscene words are ugly, base, shameful (aischrotēs); foolish words (mōrologia) are those uttered by a fool (mōros), words void of any decency or honor; eutrapelia (coarse joking) has a positive side meaning “wit” or “pleasantry.” Here, however, it is used negatively in the sense of crude jesting, dirty insinuations, and so forth. All of these have ...

6. A Lifestyle of Holiness and Love

Leviticus 19:1-37

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... after a default. 19:14 Do not curse . . . put a stumbling block. “Curse” here is verbal disrespect including cursing, insulting, slandering, or mocking. The Hebrew means “treat lightly.” The perverse find this amusing because the deaf person cannot hear it. The cruel joke of putting a stumbling block in front of the blind denies the dignity of another human being. 19:15 do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great. Given the law’s concern for the poor, it is surprising that ...

7. Colossians 3:1-11

Colossians 3:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... this church to "seek the things that are above," a place where Christ "is seated at the right hand of God." This image of Christ seated at God's right hand is still a familiar one to us today - partly because it has borne so many Sunday school jokes about God needing to be left-handed since Jesus was "sitting on the right hand of God the Father." However, the author's true meaning behind this image is perhaps not so easily comprehensible. Verses 2-4 link the imperative to "set your minds on things that are ...

8. John 1:29-42

John 1:29-42

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... and his "anointing" with the Spirit that prompts this title from Andrew. Andrew's testimony to Simon Peter is accurate, but without true perception. This week's text ends with Jesus' famous pun about Peter's (Cephas) being a rock, a "petra" (kepha). The gospel writer does not join this joke to any future predictions about Peter's role in the church. He lets the pun stand on its own, for now.

9. Colossians 3:1-11

Colossians 3:1-11

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

10. Acts 2:1-13

Acts 2:1-13

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... dismissive about what they had heard. Again the Jewishness of this audience is important, for Peter’s explanation is based on Jewish scripture — specifically Joel 2:28-32. Peter is not particularly known for his conciliatory nature. But gently, even perhaps jokingly, he dismisses the insulting accusation of drunkenness by nothing that it is too early in the day for the disciples to be sloshed. Instead Peter clearly recognizes that the “gift” he and his companions have just received is the promised ...

11. Mark 13:34-37

Mark 13:32-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... , moves beyond any human measurement of time to the end-time. Generations have expended much energy, suffered great anxiety and ruined great reputations by applying to their own times the “signs” Jesus outlined. This has made apocalyptic expectation a kind of bad joke in theological history. The problem is that too often the church has been focused on the “what will happen” and failed to face “who” is in charge of what’s happening and “why” there is this all this happening in the first ...

12. Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:25-37

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

Everyone knows at least one “lawyer joke.” In this week’s gospel lesson, Luke shows he is no exception. It appears Jesus’ “private” conversations with his disciples (10:23-24) weren’t all that private. Suddenly a lawyer (“nomikos”) stands up in their midst. What is more, this interloper is defined as being present specifically to “test” (“ ...

13. Samson’s Marriage

Judges 14:1-20

Understanding Series

Cheryl A. Brown

... /ignorance comes into play here. Samson knew the answer and we know; the focus was on their not knowing and desire to know. They tried to find out for seven days. Finally, in their desperation, they turned to the woman and laid it all upon her. The joke was no longer funny; it was time to get serious. The intensity of the dialogue builds toward the crisis point and centers upon forms of the Hebrew root “to tell” (ngd), which appears eight times in verses 11–17 (also two times in vv. 6 and 9). The ...

14. More Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 26:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... . With the laziness goes self-deception (cf. v. 12a). 26:17 The juxtaposition of two statements creates the comparison; in both cases the subject is simply asking for trouble. 26:18–19 One who practices deceit and tries to cover it up as a joke is compared to the unstable person who wields deadly weapons in an indiscriminate manner. 26:20 An implicit comparison by means of juxtaposition: fire is extinguished when no wood remains; a quarrel abates when there is no one to gossip. 26:21 Another implicit ...

15. Crucified, Dead, and Buried

John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37, John 19:38-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... are, in an important sense, an extension—the conclusion, in fact—of the running battle of wills between Pilate and the Jewish authorities from 18:28 to 19:16a. Yet one more time, thwarted in every effort to set Jesus free, Pilate makes his grim joke at the Jews’ expense—this time in writing. Ceremoniously, in three languages, for all the world to read, he places on the cross where Jesus is crucified the solemn inscription Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews (v. 19). He has lost the substantive ...

16. Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

Genesis 19:30-38, Genesis 19:1-29

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... against these strangers had provided them proof that the outcry rising from Sodom to God was genuine (18:20–21). Lot responded by going to his future sons-in-law and warning them of Yahweh’s intent to destroy the city. They thought he was joking. At the critical moment Lot’s words of warning made no impact on them, suggesting that in their presence Lot had behaved like the citizens of Sodom rather than as one who had accompanied Abraham from Haran. Now, despite the imminent danger they faced, he ...

17. Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... have taught [people] to say “my God” in a sense not really very different from “my boots,” meaning “The God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit from the pulpit—the God I have done a corner in.” And all the time the joke is that the word “Mine” in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything.1

18. At the Tomb

Luke 24:1-12, Luke 23:50-56

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man—there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized, who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them as “The women, God help us!” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; . . . who took their questions and arguments seriously, who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being ...

19. The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul

Romans 1:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Marvin Pate

... is most likely the beginning of the third century. The inscription is thought by most scholars to be a mocking description of a Christian. Justin Martyr, a Christian apologist, summarized the view of Christ by the people of the time. They considered it a joke that a crucified man would be made equal to the eternal creator God. A person like that could only be treated with disdain or contempt; he must be a lunatic. Quote: The Passion of the Christ. In this film (2004), a powerful and graphic portrayal ...

20. The Final Judgment

Revelation 20:11-15

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... the sound, you find a vast waterfall, dropping down more than one hundred feet below you to great, jagged rocks. You follow the path upriver. As you do, you encounter a party of people on a raft, floating toward you and the waterfall. They are laughing, joking, and having a good time, utterly unaware of their impending doom. Each second, they are drawing closer to the waterfall. What would you do? Let them pass? Cry out? Look for a rope to throw? Wouldn’t you do anything you could to keep those people ...

21. The New Heaven and New Earth

Revelation 21:1-27

Teach the Text

J. Scott Duvall

... do we do all this? Simply put, we are trying to control our circumstance, minimize risk. There is only one place of complete safety, God’s new creation. If your congregation has a good sense of humor, you might begin your sermon wearing a biking helmet and joke about how dangerous preaching can be, and that the church board has asked you to “play it safe” and wear a helmet. The Temple City Big Idea: The eternal temple city will consist of God’s glorious presence among his redeemed from all nations ...

22. Job Presents Evidence against the Retribution Principle

Job 12:1--14:22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... Job will at last come to realize that he also does not understand as much as he has supposed (42:1–6). 12:4 I have become a laughingstock to my friends. Job feels that his honor has been assaulted, as his friends treat him as a mere joke. Even though he is righteous and blameless (see Yahweh’s assessment of Job in 1:8; 2:3), others have derided him. What makes this especially humiliating is that his friends are the chief offenders (cf. Ps. 55:12–15). Instead of taking Job’s claim seriously, they ...

23. The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Genesis 19:1-29, Genesis 19:30-38

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ). Nothing has been said about Lot’s righteousness, as was the case with Noah. But in many ways the Noah story and the Lot story are parallel. A chosen family is spared the judgment of God. Lot’s sons-in-law ignore his warning, thinking he is joking. Lot’s family does not take him seriously. Even Lot himself hesitates (19:16) when given the ultimatum. Lot is exempted from death because the Lord is merciful. Lot turns down the suggestion that he flee to the mountains and asks instead for refuge in the ...

24. Ten Commandments and the People’s Response

Exodus 20:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... than “kingdom of God.” “Lifting up the name” may suggest taking an oath in a legal context. In its wider application infractions of this commandment occur with sad frequency within the believing community, which too often lightly and frivolously jokes about God. Fourth Commandment · The Israelites had already been taught the Sabbath procedures when they received the manna (Exodus 16). In Exodus 20:8, the fourth commandment says to “remember” the Sabbath; in Deuteronomy 5:12 the word is “keep ...

25. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... greed may be far less frowned on than sexual misbehavior, Paul prohibits them both in the same breath, as if they were identical at root: loveless. Likewise, incongruous with God’s new human family is any ugly coarseness in the form of foul-mouthed joking and foolish talk. Believers’ speech must instead be filled with the natural overflow of thankful hearts (5:4), something they can scarcely avoid when they keep their minds on what God has lovingly done for them. Paul warns that those who practice such ...

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